detestable vices to receiue it as in truth full well hath she deserued the paines that she hath suffered yet so obstinate is she in her wickednes that she séekes no amendment The malicious League séeing France in this doubtfull anguish gathered her spirits together to forge more craftie subtelties then euer before to cause France to runne to armes after the death of the Duke of Guise and so throughlie intrudeth her into her former errours that waxen more fellonious then euer afore she reconspireth the death of her king and yet holdeth an other course then afore And therefore bethinketh to enterprise it by treason and by such a one as might do it with least suspition so that hauing throughly discoursed of her affaires she coÌ„cludeth that Religion should serue her as a couert to commit this damnable parricide Then was found out an execrable traitor a Iacobin Frier who driuen by a diabolicall spirite enterpriseth to the hazard of his life traiterously to murther his naturall Prince O detestable crime and so horrible that there is not a name so cruell or obhominable as may sufficientlie expresse it Damnable Monkes do you read in the holie Scriptures that it is lawful for any man to murther I say not onely his king but euen the basest man on the earth the law of God expreslie forbiddeth to defile the hands in humaine bloud God commaundeth in the booke of Deuteronomie to take the homicide froÌ„ the aultar and to slay him but as for kings he hath giuen them a particular priuiledge as he saith by the mouth of the Psalmist You shall not touch mine annointed much more you shall not kill him Dauid also forbore to lay violent hands vpon king Saul his enemie albeit he had him at aduantage Did the Apostle teach you to commit this execrable fact when he said Obedite praepositis vestris etiam discolis dare you theÌ„ in this manner tread vnder féete the law of God whereof in wordes you vaunt your selues to be so zealouslie affectionate shame befall vpon you mischieuous and traiterous hipocrites who preach vnto the people the law of God yet your selues will not follow it Euen the ethnicke Pagans shall condemne you in the latter day for albeit they were ignoraunt yet they caried this respect vnto the Princes of their land as to terme them in reuerence the liuing pourtraitures of the supreme diuinitie Harken what said one of the Poets Rex est Imago animata Dei But suppose he were so wicked as you and the treacherous Leaguers would faine him to be yet ought we to obserue this good aduertisement Principes boni voto quidem expetendi qualescunque tamen tolerandi But certaine it is that he was endued with all the perfections requisite to make a Prince worthie of the greatest prayse and the onely imperfection that he had which was but to great an imperfection in a Prince was that he showed himselfe somwhat to negligent for the maintenance of his greatnes and conseruation of his estate Now then hath the French League mischieuously caused her king to be murthered who féeling the extremitie of death to approch neare vpon him declared in the presence of all his Princes and Lords of his Realme the king of Nauarre as naturall and legitimate successour to the Crowne as in truth he is and that most apparent ending with these wordes the course of his life Incontinently all the Princes all the Lordes and all the Officers of the Crowne following the declaration and last will of the deceased king acknowledged the king of Nauarre and that according to all equitie to be king of France which all the whole armie likewise acknowledged Now France being left a widow of her king consequently mistresse of her selfe according to her owne opinion will for it is a sure maxime that the king neuer dyeth in FraÌ„ce let vs accord to her vnreasonable appetite what face setteth she vpoÌ„ it doth she mourne or is she sorrowfully discoÌ„forted Doth she show any signe of sorrow in her widowhead which ouâ—…â—…o haue bin drowned in teares No but coÌ„trariwise she reioyceth so extremely that she setteth publickly forth a thousand and a thousand signes of ioy as among many others her bonfires being so great that euen her furthest neighbours were lightned with the flame thereof whoÌ„ notwithstanding she thinketh scarcelie aduertised by this exteriour signe of her vnmeasurable ioy and therefore will certifie them by expresse letters poore vnfortunate France which makest vertue of thy vice and glorie of thy infamie poore inchanted France which reioycest when thou shouldest swimme in teares but thou wilt not care to doe otherwise while thou art bewitched by the enchanters of this diabolicall League But now let vs sée what will become of this widow let vs sée to what Prince FraÌ„ce desireth to betroathe her selfe for I thinke she will yéeld but onely to one otherwise she should doe contrary to the nature of all other common wealths who finallie haue submitted themselues vnto one onely Monarke as approuing the gouernemeÌ„t of one to be better then of many which the Satrapas of Persia also approued when as they constituted Darius for their souueraine Monarche The Romane common wealth also after it had béen a long time furrowed and tossed by the ciuill warres of particular persons Maluit parere vni quam pluribus Furthermore in priuate families one commandeth ouer the rest as the head ouer the inferiour members Yea euen in nombers The vnitie as saith Plato is most estéemed Philo Iudaeus in his booke of the creation of a Prince teacheth that the gouernement by one onely was ordained by the commandement of God Let vs hearken vnto the iudgement of Homer Non bonum est multorum principatus vnus Princeps esto It appeareth then that there is no sort of gouernment more excellent or commendable then the Monarchie which France is not ignorant of and therefore will not be subiect to many but she will chuse one to fit her own fancie as though she were ignorant that in a Monarchie an election is perillous that nothing hath made her so redoubted and puissant as an immediat succession of Princes barring the gate to electioÌ„ which all Monarchies and well ordered kingdomes haue curiously obserued But if this poore abused France remaineth still opiniated in her election yet the expresse commandement of God forbiddeth her to elect a forraine Prince as it is written in the 17. of Deuteronomie in these wordes From among thy brethren shalt thou make a king ouer thée thou shalt not set a straunger ouer thée which is not thy brother Many examples might be produced to this purpose of common wealthes and kingdomes which haue béen destroyed onely for trusting and subiecting theÌ„ selues too much to strangers For this cause Bartholomeus Coleon repreheÌ„ded the Venetians who for his merites toward their common wealth had erected his statue in gold as hauing to inconsideratly aduentured their common wealth into the hands of a stranger The
Sacra fames Where is the time that the kings of France and their Magistrates yea all good Christians had in such indignation those which dared to take either rewards or pensions of forraine Princes that if any were noted with this crime he was sure without either grace or remission ignominiously to loose his life for this iustice hath bene one of the firmest pillers which haue so manie ages sustained the excellencie of this Monarchy But sithence that kings and their officers haue neglected this vertuous obseruation it may easily be perceiued how the state of their Monarchie hath bene more and more shaken All other kings princes obserue inuiolably this maxime he which infringeth it is punished according to the rigor of the law for vnder shadow of these liberalities strangers take knowledge of the estate of the realme and so seduce the subiects And in this manner Cambyses espied deceiued the Ethiopians Now the preachers by meanes of their mercenarie tongues forget no art that may serue their purpose to suborne France but vse all meanes possible to make the king odious vnto her in altering by little and little by their flattering discourses the sincere amitie and faithfull loyaltie which she hath alwayes held entirely towards him either exalting euerie pettie imperfectiâ—â— aboue his great perfection either in blaming accusing or attributing vnto another the glorie onely due vnto him and contrariwise in all things magnifying the greatnes and vertues of this amorous Spaniard whom they paint out accomplished with all the perfections that may be imagined Briefely they omit nothing wherby they may substract France from her king who séeing vnderstanding and knowing all the practises that were managed against him notwithstanding flattereth himself or rather is so bewitched by this League that he will neither beléeue nor chastise y e opprobrious iniuries which were publikely attached against him yea euen oftentimes to his face so much as it séemed did he feare to displease or offend her which gaue such audaciousnes and courage to these naughtie packes that no man was accounted of vnlesse he ranged himselfe with the League to vomite out a world of iniuries against the authoritie of the king and he which could gorge out most whether in preaching or writing was accounted the most honest man yea euen those who are his owne creatures and fedde at his table are not ashamed to set themselues against him and rent his renowne by all manner of iniuries slanders As namely one called Roze bishop of Senlis the true portrature of ingratitude who among manie other iniuries vttered one worthily meriting a corporall punishment yet this good prince was content onely for his chastisement to banish him the court Likewise an Aduocat of Paris named Breton was so impudent as to publish to the world a book against him repleate with mischieuous calumniations notwithstanding it was eueÌ„ against his will that iustice was executed vpon him But for these holy preachers did they approue this act of iustice nothing lesse but rather reprooued it as a tyrannicall act so that one of them named Boucher was so shameles as to preach that the cord wherwith the Aduocat Breton was strangled was a thousand times more honorable then the scarlet robe of the president which condemned him I cannot here forget a certain Parisian instructed and prompted by Madame de Mompensier who faigning himselfe mad entered y e Louure vttering a thousand detestable words against the person of the king yet for his knauerie he was but simplie whipped in one of the oâ—â—…ces of that place Behold how this prince brooketh these iniuries which were disgorged and that impudently against him and his authoritie Behold how careful he is to extinguish the fire which kindleth to borne him and the estate of his realme so that well may it be said of him Malum est quidem habere imperatorem sub quo nemini licet quicquam facere sed multo peius est quando omnia licent omnibus The League hauing now had a long time to practise vpon France ouer whom she had alreadie gotten this aduantage that it easily gaue her credite in whatsoeuer aduised with her selfe that it was now high time to let them which had set her a work sée some better fruits of her trauell So that leauing off words such like matters she will now venter vpon practise wherein the dice chanced so well that her enterprise fortuned euen to her wish And this was when she called the Duke of Guise with his other partakers into the citie of Paris against the will of the king who as well for the more assurance of his person as to ferret out certaine mischeiuous naughtipackes lurking priuily in the said citie which put in feare the good seruants of the king whom the League termed by the name of Polliticks placed the guards of his body in certain places of the citty but the League caused him soone to know that shée had so throughly altered the will of the people that they were farre more affectioned to the said Guysard then to him himselfe which he then perceiued when it was too late to remedy Thus within lesse then thrée or foure houres the Parisians were so animated against the kings guard by the instigation of the Duke of Guise as himself vaunted and braued in certaine letters directed to the nobility of France that they killed hurt diuers of them yea y e king himselfe was scarsely spared for the Barricados were planted within the gate of his Louure in such sort that he thought his stay would be far more perillous then his departure This is that infortunate day which y e preachers haue extolled as the most fortunate day which happened of a thousand yeares in France and which they themselues in open sermon baptised by the name of Barricados as in truth it hath beene very aduantagious for the master whom they serue The king hauing receiued this indignitie of his France in y e capitall cittie of his realme and in the sight of all the Princes in Christendome who were there resident in the person of their Ambassadours or Agents did he shew himselfe to be mooued or angrie not at all but as if he had too much let loose the bridle of his malignant affections fearing a worse euent he is content to put vp the wrong and to accuse himselfe So seeking to reconcile himselfe with her he made it knowne that he would assemble the estates of his realme by whose aduise and counsell he would hereafter rule all his actions and that he might shew some confirmation of his will he casheard in one morning about 33. of his Edicts At the first bruit of this declaration the League séemed somwhat male content fearing that if Fraunce being admonished and reprooued by her king should haue any remorse of conscience for her fault shée would returne to her former duety yet considering that she had so practised her nearest counsailors that they would speake
to perseuere in the amitie which she had sworne to Phillip And I verilie beléeue that she had retained the former opinion as most safe had not the League in vsing more fine and artificiall subtleties then euer before by the seducing of the vnfaithfull preachers induced perswaded yea and cōstrained her to follow her last resolution setting before her eyes the enormitie of all the faults that she had committed against the authoritie of her king who would be so irreconciliable and inflamed with a desire of reuenge that he would neuer be induced to open the gate of his mercie Thus desperatlie she resolueth that seing the dice was cast she would runne fortunes hazard as also the ardēt affection that she had to change her naturall Prince to assay the gouernement of a stranger which she earnestlie wisheth for albeit to her common dammage and extreme ruine The Gaules saith Caesar in his Commentaries loue noueltie and desire to change their Signorie so that there néeded no great labour to incite them to a generall rebellion yet the seditious preachers adding oile to fier by their charming Sermōs and vniust declaration make processe vpon the bodie by which processe the Colledge of Sorbone acquited the people frō the oth of fidelitie and obedience to their Prince and without any scruple of conscience to take armes against him to extirpat both him all those which shall sustaine or defēd his quarell As if the Colledge of Sorbone were aboue the king to licence his people to violate the most firme and holie lawes of the Realme now in such case if often hapneth as Caesar saith that some are pricked forward with auarice others with desire of reuenge or any other light folly which ordinarilie aecompanieth the cōmon people Moreouer the great ones labour to set the vulgar sort in a tumult wherein hauing committed some great mischief they may be ashamed to repent or craue mercie others there are who are drawne by a hope to become great men which as saith Salust maketh men but of meane condition to venter their life Now before this French League will commit her fortune to the field she would remoue all such stumbling blockes as might hinder her actions or interrupt the course of her vnbridled rage in such sort that she captiuated or banished the Cities all those whom she neuer so litle suspected to be seruants to the kings And then began France so to ruffle that the League her preachers had gathered a puissāt armie whose leader must be the Duke du Maine whō you cherish no lesse thē his late deceased brother but O France to what end doest thou march accompanied with such a terrible courage as though thou wouldst affray and subdue the whole world is it to maintaine the authoritie of thy king or to conquer new lands planting the borders of thy Monarchie vpon thy neighbours or finally to recouer those which the auncestors of thy Spaniards yea and he himselfe hath vniustly robbed thée of no no such matter It is to abase and beate downe the greatnes of my king for that he hath takē away the life of my Minion who might I haue had my will should haue taken away his To this end do I muster so many men in field to sacrifice their bloud for the expiatiō of the offence perpetrated by the king vpon the person of my fauorite As also my fields shall be ouerflowen with the bloud of the French for an earnest pennie of my Mariage dower with Philip king of Spaine for that so is his pleasure and he instantlie requireth it as a token of my affection Ah miserable France well may it be cried out against thée Gallia quis furor heu quae tanta licentia ferri Gentibus inuisis Gallum praebere cruorem You long for nothing so much as a bloudie warre and you imagine thereby to triumph incontinētly ouer your king to yéeld your selfe afterward to a forraine Prince but brainsicke as you are you consider not the message which the great warrier Metellus sent vnto king Bocchus The entrāce into warre saith he is easie but the end difficult neither are the beginning and issue thereof in the power of one and the same person euery one euen the veriest coward in the world may easiely begin it but the end thereof is onely at the pleasure of the conquerour The king perceiuing France to rush with such furie vpō him to auoid those inconueniences whereinto he might fall iudged that his best remedie was to abrogate and suppresse that iniust law whereby at the instant request of the League he had declared his legitimat and indubitat heires incapable of succession to the Crowne and to recall them neare vnto his person together with all his old faithfull seruants both to sustaine the assaults of his rebellious subiects as also to abate the pride of their ouer-rash insolencie who in the meane while made a sodaine assault vpon him in the suburbes of the Citie of Tours frō whence they were so valiantly repulsed that they were constrained to make a shamefull retraite The king had no sooner made declaration of the things aboue said but he might sée him selfe assisted with a great and couragious armie composed of the Princes of the bloud of the most faithfull and magnagnimous Nobilitie and of the better sort of his people friends and confederates who neuer failed him at néed So that all trembled for feare where his armie passed the towns which opened not their gates were soone ouerthrowen nothing might resist his puissance and brieflie all stouped vnder his authoritie Thus hoping to moue France to acknowledge her offences and to demande pardon which she might easilie haue obteined of his gracious clemencie he caused his armie to approche euen to the gates of Paris then were both France and the League in extreme perplexitie without all hope of safetie France was sore vexed and tossed in spirite manie doubts and difficulties trouble her braine the worme of her conscience doth gnaw and pricke vncessantlie and so liuely that she féeleth as it were an vnsupportable torment Of the one side she balanceth the enormitie of her mischiefs which plonge her into a mortall dispaire and on the other side the great mercie of the king which farre surpassed the heaps of her misdéedes lifting her to an infallible hope of some great good and I doubt not but that shortlie she had returned to acknowledge her faults and cordially to cleaue to her king who had handled her so graciously if God would somuch haue fauoured her as to take away the vaile from before her eyes that she might discerne truth from falshood and euidentlie sée the errour whereinto the charming sorceries craftie illusions of this pernicious League had caused her to stray and so cast her headlong into a bottomlesse pit ouerflowing with all calamities and miseries but it pleased not the diuine goodnesse of God to endue her with so fauourable a grace as one vnworthie for her
Corinthes had not fallen into a tyrannicall gouernement if they had not submitted thēselues vnder Timophanes a forraine leader The Brittaines were chased their Realme by the English Saxons The Spaniards by the Moores and the Gréekes by the Turkes onely by crauing succour of them in their warres yet this Frēch League passeth a degrée further she not onely calleth in the Spaniard to aide to destroy her owne children but she will wholy submit her self vnto him and make him her soueraigne Lord which because she might not as yet openly and absolutly doe for some considerations she aduiseth vpon some fit expediēt to couer her mischieuous intention and to the end to cloke her theft which she secretly desireth to commit with the said Spaniard she elected for her king by forme of acquit Charles Cardinall of Bourbon a man ouerworne with age whom she had purchased to no other end but to alienate the Crowne being wel assured that he could not hinder but rather profit much for the negociatiō betwéene the Spaniard and her as before times he had alwayes done for this Prince she had expreslie reserued for this affaire But the late king hauing as it séemed foreséen this accident to hinder him from disturbing the state any more had committed him to a place where being surely guarded neither his rebels nor the Spaniard might aide him at their deuotion which meruailously disquieted them For Fraunce of her selfe could do nothing to any effect without the authoritie of her beane king as I may terme him whom she onely vsed as a couert for her traiterous monopolies and inuentions against her legitimate and naturall king albeit he had not right or title to the Crowne the king being liuing whom to be deliuered of they would euen remoue heauen and earth if it were in their power but seeing all this was to no purpose because the said Cardinall was surely guarded by the good faithfull seruants of the king she recoursed vnto force of armes and setteth a great armie in the field which charged vpon the king being at that time with a small cōpanie at Deipe and there abouts promising vnto themselues either to slay him to captiuate his person or at the least to cause him flie the Realme but God so assisted him by his own prowesse and the valour of his owne souldiers with the succours sent vnto him by the Quéene of England that his enemies had but onely the wil to hurt him the grief because they were altogether vnable to hurt him for the king defeated and repulsed them valerously and afterward searched them euen at the gates of Paris from whence they durst not appeare to answere him in battaile which he presented vnto them The Spaniard for his part continually entertaineth France with faire wordes great hope of new forces sufficient enough aswell to set the fained king at libertie as to defeate him which truely and by good title is called king And in déede fiue or six mouethes after the charge vpon Deipe was the Countie Egmond sent with a great troupe The Pope also sent his Legate to comfort encourage her In such manner that a puissant armie presented it selfe to the king who sodainely set him selfe in battaile aray in the plaine of Yury where God once againe so miraculously fauoured him although his enemies forces were twise as great as his that he gained y e victorie hauing slaine the greatest part of his enemies amōg whom was the Countie Egmond and put the rest to a shamefull flight which sore troubled Frāce and yet behold another worke of God who working for his annointed about two monethes after tooke the Cardinall to him selfe This vnexspected death of the Cardinall rechargeth her with diuers and troublesome thoughtes She saw that the king had a puissant armie which so encreased euery day that he had conquered a good part of his kingdome and which more tormented her she saw that he had blocked on all sides the Citie of Paris which then suffered an extreme defect both of victuals and other commodities which occasioned the people to open their eyes which superfluitie of ease the charmes of the League vntill then had shut vp and vailed and surely they would willingly haue yéelded to the king had not the damnable League by her subtelties the force of her partakers retained thē in their obstinacie whether they would or no. Thē began France to perceiue the fraude of the Spaniard and the illusions of the League acknowledging that being foolishly perswaded she had committed vnpardonable faultes against her king and that perseuering in her follie she had rashly takē armes against him whom she ought to haue cherished more then any Prince in the world who notwithstāding is so mercyfull that she might haue promised her selfe that he would forget all that was passed So that she fully determined to send to his Maiestie to entreate of peace but that she was so watched by the League and intāgled in her laberinthes that she might doe nothing without her knowledge or consent who counselleth her to propose vnto the king among other Articles these two following 1. That he should change his Religion into the Romish Catholike Religiō a thing that she knew well that the king would neuer accorde vnto especially at that time 2. That he should pardō all those which are coulpable of y e death of the late king a thing which he neither might nor ought to do And as touching the changing of his Religiō albeit he holdeth it for the most true and holy notwithstanding he hath alwayes protested that he would submit him selfe to the decrées of a holy frée Councell generall or nationall assembled to determine of the two Religiōs which are professed in his kingdome to the end to embrace that which shalbe iudged most Christian to reiect the other But that he is an heretike he denieth for that no Councell hath condemned the Religion which he professeth to be heresie But put case his Religion were hereticall yet it maketh not either him or any other person incapable to possesse those goods which naturally and lawfully belong vnto him and to force his conscience in regard of Religion were a thing vneasie to doe If his Religion be not good they néede not feare for that he cannot long vphold or maintaine it in his Realme séeing Iesus Christ hath said Euery plant which my heauenly father hath not planted shalbe plucked vp by the roote They may sée a faire plea vpon this question in the 5. of the Actes where a Doctour of the law named Gamaliell speaking of the Religion and doctrine of the Apostles said vnto the high Priest and to the Iudges If this counsell or worke be of men it will come to naught but if it be of God ye cānot destroy it least ye be found euē fighters against God And doe not you manifestly resist the word of God to sustaine a Religion by the point of the sword and enforce men
to follow it It is euident God neuer planted his by the sword of Princes To hope also that the French king will leaue his Religiō to the end to enioy peaceably his kingdome is a vaine hope and I beléeue he will neuer do it if the Monarchie of the whole world were offered vnto him for that he estéemeth it a great breache both to his conscience and honour if it be not as I haue said first condemned by a Councell The League knowing then that France could not treate a peace with the king vpon the conditons before said and that by her obstinacie she reaped such great discommodities that at the length would bring her to reason she solliciteth her more more to persist in her mischeiuous opinion and the more the people cry out with famine so much the more doe the preachers entertaine them in their rebellion playing the Orators vnto them like as aunciently Critognatus a Captaine of the Gaules did vnto the inhabitants of Lauxois being besieged by the Romanes who propsed vnto them that it were farre more honorable to eate one an other then to yéelde them selues to the mercy of the Romaines But Critognatus was farre different from these preachers more inhumane then the very Canibals for that he did it for feare of comming into bondage and these to the end to yéeld France and her poore people vnder the yoke of a miserable tyrannie he showed him selfe truely zealous of his countrey and the name of the Gaules and these are thereunto mortall enemies for they haue nothing but the French names whereas in heart they are Spaniards aboue foure and twentie carrects Now to the end to comfort the people in their aduersitie they féede them with a hope of succour which shall remooue that long and insupportable siege And ind indéede the Spaniard after hée had set all his wits awork caused the Prince of Parma to march into France against the king who togither with his nobilty and other men of warre presented him battaile foure or fiue times with a magnanimous courage so that the Spaniard for all his brauadoes was so astonished at the sight of this valorous armie that he neuer dared to come to blowes contenting himselfe to lurke about Paris to consume the rest of that small portion of victuals which remained in the countrie and townes thereabout The king séeing that the Spaniard had taken this resolution licensed some of his nobilitie to depart and separated himselfe a few leagues from Paris making dayly couragious assaults vpon the enemie who for all his great brauadoes and proud rodomantadies tooke onely two small Hamlets not without the losse of a great number of his souldiers which were soone taken againe and that before his face and hauing done these two memorable exploits he thought it best to trusse vp his baggage and returne to his lodging for feare of greater losse to the vtter abasing of his reputation which he did not so secreatly but that the king made him fasten his spurres and leaue part of his glorious feathers behind him For he pursued him without cealing now in the forefront now on his wings and now at his taile euen vnto the borders of Flaunders Thus in briefe behold all the succours and aduancement that France receiued of her great friend Philip king of Spaine by the comming of the Prince of Parma Behold the people left in greater calamitie then euer before and their affaires still growing from euill to worse the king surprising to day one towne and to morrow another Poore abused France dismaske and pul away the vaile which the League hath put before your eyes turne away your eare from her craftie illusions breake the bonds wherewith she hath captiuated you and purge your braine with some good antidote against her charmes and then not till then shall you perceiue in what darkenes in what errour in what captiuitie you haue bene detained whilest this accursed League hath gouerned you then your selfe shall be iudge how much you haue lost of your beautie of your authoritie of your greatnes of your fidelitie of your libertie of your wisedome and of your forces which before and that from the beginning were redoubted not onely to your neighbours but euen to the most renowned nations so that if you would looke backe vpon your selfe you should sée that your visage is so changed that you could not know it nay you would be afraid to behold it Consider all your members and Organes apart by themselues and you shal finde all your members defeated beaten downe féeble and weak and your organs all peruerted and gone astray in their offices Your neighbours which were wont of late to feare and redoubt you doe now hisse at you pointing with their finger and mocking at your desperate rage and miserable follie which hath made you more cruell then Medea against your owne innocent children whom you most cruelly pursue and without all humanitie massacre as if they were your most mortall enimies that had conspired your death Take patience awhile to hearken vnto one of your most affectionate neighbours who will set downe nothing which shalbe vnreasonable but rather wholly to your aduantage and profite Imitate that vertuous Prince Antigonus who fréely hearkned vnto a plaine countrey man whom he met with by chance reprehending the vices wherewith he was attached and albeit he felt himselfe pricked to the quicke yet he tooke all in so good part that it returned greatly to his profite correcting afterwards that which the good man had noted to be vicious in him and being returned to his court he said vnto his minions that he had learned that of a peasant which he neuer knew before namely the truth which his flatterers had alwayes kept hidden and disguised In like manner miserable France depart but a little from this fraudulous League and her traiterous preachers to learne not of one of your domesticall flatterers and deluders but of a simple stranger desirous for your owne good safetie to cause you to know the sincere veritie which this long time you haue not heard of for that you would neuer giue eare to anie discourses but those of your deceiuers depart therefore but a while out of your court and I will cause you sincerely to vnderstand what you haue hereafter to do Demosthenes perswading the Athenians to resist Philip of Macedon exhorted them not onely to repulse the vsurper but consequently to chase out of their cittie certaine Orators whom by rewards he had drawne vnto his faction In like manner I aduise you that to auoid the tyrannie of Philip of Spaine it is néedfull to betake you to your weapons and more then high time to exile this pernitious League and her corrupted preachers if they will not amend contenting themselues to preach the gospel as Iesus Christ hath enioyned his Apostles whose imitatours and successours they faine themselues to be Go saith Christ throughout the whole world preaching the gospel vnto euery creature he
THE SPANIARDS MONARCHIE AND LEAGVERS OLYGARCHIE LAYD OPEN IN AN ADVERISEMENT written by Signor VASCO FIGVEIRO a Gentleman of Portingale to the rebellious French wherein is discouered the tyrannie of the one ouer the kingdome of Portingale and the treacherous rebellion of the other in the kingdome of France with a patheticall persuasion to the French to returne to the obedience of their naturall and legitimate king Englished by H. O. Praeiudicium saepè tollit omne iudicium Imprinted at London by Richard Field for Iohn Harison 1592. TO THE GENTLEMEN READERS COVRTEOVS Gentlemē to your censures I commit this labour of mine small and simple it is the first I will not say it may be the last If you accept and applaud it I am throughly animated to enter into some matter of more cōsequēce such as I know shalbe acceptable VVhat the vulgar either imagine or speake I care not for with Horace Non ego ventosae plebis suffragia venor It is no feather of fancie for that I accompt it base to fetch such light marchandise so farre as Valentia If you expect extraordinarie elegancie I answer that a Translator is bound rather to search fit words to expresse his Authors meaning then inuent words running on the letter to content ouer-curious fancies which I contemne as dictionarie method and thus much can I assure you that albeit it hath no title fetched from the Bull within bishops gate as a figge for a Spaniard yet doth it discouer so succinctly and briefly a Spanish imitatiō of Machiauellized axiomes that what other volumes at large this in a leafe doth plainly demonstrate If any obiect that this treatise serueth for french men and not appertinent to vs. I answer that their wit reacheth no further then their owne home For is not our Iland the marke that Philips ambitious humour especiaily aimeth at hath he not sent his inuincible Armada to make a conquest of our vltima insula Nay would he not repute him selfe an absolute Monarch if he might but get any interest within vs And haue not we a viperous brood of puritan Papists and reconciled Leaguers that dreame vpon a new inuasion with good foresight by this treatise they may be warned and true subiects armed VVhich successe God graunt Yours H. O. A FAITHFVL ADVERTISEMENT OF SEGNIOR VASCO FIGVEIRO A GENTLEMAN OF Portingale unto the rebellious French IF the Gréek Achamenides shewed himself so carefull for the safetie of the Troians his sworn enemies that after hauing discoursed of the horrible cruelties that the Prince Vlysses and his people had receiued by the hand and tooth of the cruel Antropophage Poliphemus he admonished them to fly with diligence from the Sicilian shore the repaire of that inhumane Cyclops It séemeth vnto me by a more forcible reason as well for the auncient alliance which our nation hath had with the French as also hauing bene disciplined in a better schoole then that of this barbareus infidell that I am obliged by the lawes both diuine and humane to demonstrate vnto you so much as in me lyeth the good affection which I beare vnto you Then Sirs being induced by this example and many other good reasons knowing by experience the tyrannicall and barbarous gouernment of Philip king of Spaine the vniust vsurper of our kingdome of Portingale And séeing you Frenchmen I speake to the ignorant and those which are gone astray are come like the Troians to the Sicilian shore to cast the anchor of your turbulent rebellions and indiscréete affections still longing for noueltie in the daungerous and vnassured port of the inexorable ambition of this Philip. My desire is to aduertise you as a good neighbour charitable friend to weigh your anchors spéedily from this port making sayle to the shore from whence you haue strayed that is to returne to the dutie of true and naturall Frenchmen which the impetuous wind of a temerarie sedition hath caused you to abandon and so to cast your selues foolishly into the hands of a forraine Prince which can not tend but to the euident ruine of your libertie For this is he who like that infamous Polyphemus which acknowledged no other God but his belly so he may féed his own insatiable ambition careth not with what garbage soeuer it be therfore maketh no conscience wickedly to violate euen the law of God it selfe Now as this miserable Achamenides made vnto the Troians a long narration of the inhumanities of Polyphemus before he exhorted them to flie that he might not séeme to amase them without iust occasion so am not I ignorant that I ought by the same example to recount in what maner Philip vsurped our realme and with what rigor he hath sithens managed his tyrannicall gouernment lest I should be thought to build my discourse vpon the wind and induce you to auoyd shipwracke without yéelding example or pertinent reason I could spend the time in recounting particularities were it not that they are so manifest to the world that it were but lost labour to rehearse them Notwithstanding to satisfie those which for curst heart will yet stand in doubt I will speake a word or two and so away It is knowne vnto all men that the king Henrie who before was Cardinall the predecessor of Don Anthonio our naturall and legitimate king in the assemblie of the estates of his realme established fiue gouernors for y e administration of y e said Realme after his death vntill Don Anthonio made manifest the right which he pretended to the crowne ordaining that the other competitors should not in the mean time attempt any thing vpon the said Realme vpon paine of repelling their pretensions But while these things were in doing Philip hauing corrupted by rewards and promises thrée of the said gouernours and manie of the nobilitie directly contrarie to this ordinaunce of the sayd Henrie and the states entred the said Realme by force of armes and seased him selfe of some especiall places Which the people and states perceiuing without any delay because periculū erat in meum acknowledged incontinently Don Anthonio for their soueraigne beséeching and vrgently pressing him to take vpon him the title and qualitie of king which after many refusals he condiscended vnto In such sort that he was established king with all the solemnities thereunto required and sithens being assisted by part of his good subiects he came in battell against the said Philip vnto whom the fortune of warre gaue the victorie in such sort that our said Don Anthonio was forced hauing escaped infinite dangers of death by the ambushes which were layd for him by the tyranny of Philip to retire him selfe into France and afterward into England The said Philip being come to the top of this tyrannous vsurpation hath pardoned neither great nor litle neither anie sexe or qualitie that he knewe had bene or might hereafter oppose them selues to his tyrannie The Princes Lords Gentlemen gouernours captaines officers Ladies both the secular and regular the priests
and religious partly killed in diuerse maners partly detained in perpetuall prison partly banished the Realme part chained in galleys and part vagabonds wandering in the forrests and hiding themselues in dens for feare lest they should fall into the hands of these mercilesse hangmen do sufficiently testifie his cruel and sanguinarie ambition I will content my selfe with naming of some few hereafter referring them which would know farther to the copie of an Epistle written by our king to Pope Gregorie the thirtéenth albeit that was but in the beginning of our miseries and slaughters which are sithens so multiplied that the number is now infinite The Spaniard séeing him self enriched with the spoiles of our king contenting not him self with this pray imagined it should serue but as a ladder to mount vp to the top of an absolute monarchy And being drunke with the greatnesse of this happy successe he began to plot higher attemps in his spirit as ambition neuer wanteth matter proposing France for the marke of his other enterprises but knowing well that he might not attempt openly and that herein force of armes might turne rather to his dammage then profite he resolued to follow the aduise of Lisander namely where the lyons skin is not strong enough to patch it with a péece of the fores But then he imagined that nothing could more securely and more soone eleuate him to the top of this greatnesse then a forcible ladder of gold vnderpropped with a more then Punicke subtilty and masked with a false semblance of integritie Likewise séeing that he had principally two great obstacles in France namely the late king and Monsieur his brother he deliberated to remooue the lesser And to come to the point of this enterprise knowing the naturall auarice and ambition of the Dukes of Guise and Maine who following the trace and instruction of their father and their vncle the Cardinall pretended to enrich their Bonnet with the thrée floure deluces and if not of all three yet at least of a part he easily corrupted thē with rewardes and promises in so much that shortly they accorded vpon the death of Monsieur either by poyson or otherwise and that by a Gentleman of his own traine named Salsede who being attainted and conuicted of the said enterprise was drawne in péeces with horses in the citie of Paris hauing first discouered and accused those which had practised with him But your king who ought according to the enormitie importance of the cause to haue made exact search iustice vpon the culpable ouer whom at that time he had sufficient puissance caried not him selfe toward the truth with that diligence that the importaunce of the cause did merit Et haec prima mali labes For he knowing the humour of the abouesaid he ought infallibly to haue held them suspect of great mischiefes in his Realme For all this the Spaniard altered not his enterprises but cōtrarily continuing and more and more augmenting the pensiōs of his two partakers practised euery day new matters Finally a few yeares after he obtained that which he had long expected for lo Monsieur being made away not without euident suspitiō of poison now y e Spanish king not being able any longer to cōtaine the heat of his ambition enclosed or hidden shewed himself so amorous of France that without ceassing he cheared courted it solliciting continually his partakers to venter and briefly leauing nothing vndone which he thought might conduct him to the port of his desires which being not able to reach vnto it hammered his head gnawed his inwards with a tedious torment Suppressing his passions as impatient that his partakers could not withdraw or diswade her from her fidelitie he had recourse vnto that remedie which customablie foolish and desperate louers vse namely some fine Dariolette or Magician and indéed he searched so much and so curiously that at last he recountred with a mischieuous and craftie harlot not ignorant in Magicke who had bene engendred nourished brought vp and entertained in the proud and magnificke Pallaces of Rome whom hauing furnished in abundance with all that was requisite for her affaires recommending vnto her all the artificialnes of her craft but especially to keepe her selfe disguised vnder the maske of the Catholike religion he presently sends her into France And this is that mischieuous and traiterous harlot which is called the holy league a name truely fatall and pernitious to euerie well ordered Monarchie and common wealth This sorcerie and subtletie of the League is incontinently receiued with great applause of the partakers pensionaries of Philip king of Spaine who leaue nothing vndone that they may make her séeme plausible vnto France The king himselfe maketh semblance of a faire countenance in entertaining it courteously yea making great difficultie to giue credite to his most faithfull subiectes friends and seruants who pertinently declared that it was not begun for other end but to withdraw France from his obedience and finally to rauish her from betweene his armes But the good prince is alreadie so charmed by her alluring speaches that contrarily he sweareth onely by her and acteth whatsoeuer shée commandeth at least giuing outwardly sufficient demonstrations like to that infortunate Priamus who was so bewitched with the sorceries and subtleties of Helena that instéed of giuing credite to the true speaches of his owne daughter Cassandra who prophesied vnto him the misfortunes that should in the end fall vpon him and his kingdome by meanes of this faire Dame he not onely taunted her as a foole but also detained her in prison Alas you Frenchmen how manie true Cassandras hath your king had which foretold him the ruine both of him and you Notwithstanding it is manifestly séene what small estimate both he and you haue made of their holy and profitable aduertisements nay you haue bin so far frō giuing credit to this infallible Oracle y t otherwise you haue mocked searched for y e authors as mē guiltie of some capital crime And herein you may be compared to the Orithains who after they had whooted and hissed at Euphraces the Orator they imprisoned him as a perturber of the people for that he aduertised thē to take héed least they submitted themselues vnder the tyrannie of Philip king of Macedon as afterward they found it too true Now this damnable League this impudent courtisan proposing her selfe to corrupt the fidelitie of France gained first of all secretly those whom she knew gaue most credence vnto her as manie of the nobilitie some of the officers as well of the kings as of the cities and in a manner all the Ecclesiasticall persons who oh horrible shame made no conscience to sell for ready money their eloquence and knowledge which they ought to haue imployed in preaching the gospel and instructing the simple people in the feare of God and obedience to their king to corrupt the constancie and fidelitie of France but Quid non mortalia pectora cogis auri
absent from their Pithian games whereat if he assisted not himselfe he caused some of his court to be president will the proud disdaine of your Philip be more tollerable vnto you when he will not daigne I say not to honour you certaine moneths euerie yeare with his presence but not to visite you at all and yet surely the administration of such a kingdome is of farre more worth and importance then the feast of I know not what games and pastimes And yet moreouer you haue bene always accustomed to talke familiarly with your king and to remonstrate vnto him whether in priuate or publike all your affaires you alwayes saw your king president in the congregation of your estates You I say are they especially aboue all other nations who desire nothing more then to content your eyes with the presence of your Prince But herein in my opinion he shal beare himselfe maruellous discréetely for that he ought not to entertain himselfe with you but in a tedious manner by reason of the iust distrust he may haue of your fidelitie For séeing you haue falsified your faith to your legitimate Prince séeing you haue killed your rightfull king séeing you haue shewed your selfe a stepmother to your owne children to adopt strangers good occasion may he haue to hold your loyaltie alwayes in suspect which you may as easily violate towards him as you haue done towards your naturall and legitimate Prince And be you sure that he will soone make you tast of the frutes of his distrust by taking away all those which may any wayes be obstacles to his enterprises Make account that he is not ignorant that Tyrannidis inducendae ac stabiliendae prima initia sunt frequens accusatio in quouis crimine adiuncta delaesa maiestate Principis Itemque delatorum authoritas Which he throughly practised in Flanders causing the Counties Egmond and Horne to be beheaded besides diuerse other as also the Prince of Orange whom he caused traiterously to be murthered And as for vs Portingales hath he spared vs I will make you partakers of some examples of his clemencie towards our Nobilitie The Countie de Vimiose Constable of Portingale being slaine in fighting for the libertie of his countrie The Spaniard confiscated all his goods and sent his mother with her seuen daughters prisoners into Castile Diego de Meneses sometime Viceroy of the East Indies and gouernour of the towne of Cascais was publikely beheaded and one of the Captaines of the sayd to towne named Henry Perera was ignominiously hanged notwithstanding his nobilitie Emanuel Serradas was executed by the sword in the Ile of Tercera And the Countie de Torres vedras gouernour of the sayd Ile was in like manner beheaded The same end had Peter Alpoen after that Philip vnderstood y t our king Don Anthonio was retired toward France Sfortia Vrsino a valorous Captaine was likewise empoysoned These few which I haue collected from a great number may suffise because I would not be tedious vnto you And therefore by the example of the miseries of our Realme take héed in good time least that happen vpon yours if the Spaniard become maister which Tacitus writeth Sub tyrannis iniustè imperium occupantibus omnia sunt bellis ciuilibus proditionibus mutuis coedibus exilijs plena c. I take you to be so benigne a mother that you would féele an extreme gréefe to sée your Nobilitie the honour and stay of your authoritie to be massacred or banished And albeit it had prouoked you by a thousand outrages as the League hath vndertaken falsely to perswade you yet would you impatiently support this horrible and cruell tyrannie Now then you sée into what infortunate calamities this pernicious League would precipitate you into You sée how she séeketh nothing but to destroy you to enrich Philip with your dammage And you sée that she enforceth her self to charge your neck with such a waightie tyrannie that you shal cōtinually remaine courbed vnder the burthen therof without being able to redresse your selfe But I hope that by this time you haue reculed farre backe from her yea euen wholly chased her from your eares and that returning to your selfe you will be gouerned by reason by whose good counsell you shall returne vnto your king and be appeased with your Nobilitie who heartely desire to reuiew you more excellent and magnificall then euer before as full easily you may be being assisted and maintained by the most vertuous and magnanimous king that euer swayed your crowne Oh how comly wold it be to sée you reuested with this faire French robe embrodered with the flour deluces Oh how neat it wold be ouer this Spanish motley robe which for a time you haue worne which hath made you so vgly and deformed that you are become the fable of all your neighbours who take you for some foolish sot not knowing you being so foolishly disguised but take but once againe your owne habite and they will both honour and reuerence you These faire floure deluces will put them in minde of your integritie and vnmoueable constancie towardes your king which if you kéepe inuiolably then shall you triumph ouer the arrogancie of the Spaniard if he should offer hereafter to disquiet or disturbe your felicitie But now I come to you people of France diuided principally into two parties whereof the first part which is the lesser hath continually remained entire and faithfull to their Prince what faire language what subtleties what menaces what prisons what tortures what cruelties and what losse of goods soeuer that the League and her partakers had plotted or inuented to leade them to their deuotion The other part being farre greater hath not only run at the first furie of y e League to reuolt against their king but also hath taken in hand to intraine corrupt the sound partie and yet remaineth plunged in their obstinacie To these two parties agreeth well the difference that Demosthenes put betwéene those of Athens and Thebes The Athenians as true citizens and men zealous of the common wealth would fauour Philip of Macedon no further then honestie and vertue would permit them but the Thebans contrariwise serued him for an ardent couetousnesse of gaine and particular profit which they hoped to draw thereby not apprehending any farther like men of base vnderstanding the rigor of a tedious seruitude Now as for you sage Athenians you faithfull Frenchmen me thinketh you néede no aduertisement to entertaine you in your dutie séeing the League by so many and so many crosses troubles persecutions hath not bene able to diuert you I estéeme you so constant that nothing shalbe able hereafter to distract you you are men rather worthie of immortall praise which shall neuer fayle you then any admonitiō and therfore I should be but too tedious to exhort you to conserue that which I know you do most affect namely your libertie fidelitie And albeit Demosthenes played the orator often to his Athenians yet